Left your tripod at home? Add some tripod-like stabilization to your camera with just a pen and some string. The "stringpod" will help you take sharp photos by reducing your hands' shakiness.

Part of a fantastic list of tricks from Photojojo for getting sharp photos, the stringpod, as you can see, is really easy and inexpensive to make. Get some string that's long enough to reach from your toes to your head and tie around a pen or pencil. Tie the other end around the camera lens, close to the camera body. (If you have the screw that fits the mount at the bottom of your camera, you can tie the string to the screw instead—making this work for compact cameras too.)

When you take a photo, stand on the pencil and gently pull the string taut.

If you don't have a pen or pencil, you can make a version that uses just a really long cord that you wrap around your foot and tie to a steel eye hook attached to the bottom of your camera. Either way you choose to make your string tripod, you've got a very portable accessory that will cut down on camera shake.